Strange hearing problem. - PG Music Forums

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Hi folks,

I know a few folks have mentioned hearing loss on here before so I just thought I would share this to see if anyone has experienced something similar.

Up to a few weeks ago my hearing in both ears was to me normal. A hearing problem has developed in my right ear now, some hearing loss and I have this strange problem where If I am listening to a sound such as a tv or baby making noise say a few metres away I can hear the tv or other sound in my right ear as if I have a earpiece in my ear.

In other words I can hear the sound from where its coming from but I an also hear it localised in my right ear as well as if the sound source is located there. It is garbled a lot but a very strange strange sensation to experience.

I am going to get my ear syringed by a practice nurse on Tuesday and I am taking drops to soften wax if it is indeed that, adn also have booked an appointment with my doctor the following week just in case its not an ear wax problem.

Any advice would be very gratefully appreciated.

Thank you
martin57

I'd say it was psychoacoustics, but the last guy I tried to help would have said I was calling him crazy.

Your case is odd indeed. Never heard of anything like that. Hope it is as simple as a good cleaning.

R.

Martin,

I have over production of ear wax and actually lose my hearing about every week to 10 days. It's a real chore to transport me to the audiologist that often for flushing so my nurse does it here in my nursing home faithfully every Friday.

I hope your problem is no more serious than an occasional flushing.

Too many years in industrial noise took its toll on my hearing. I thought that I was invincible and didn't need hearing protection. Youth is vanity.

Hello Martin - it does "sound" a little weird, and it's new to me.

I think it is a wise decision to see a Dr. Since I am assuming that it is covered by the national health, it would be wise to have a full work-up done including an audiology test.

Personally I have about 20% of my hearing left and use two hearing aids. I'm not a doctor.

If they do all of the relevant tests then you will know.

Cheers, and let us know - Ian

Thanks for replies and your support. Well I hope the ear syringing will do the trick but like everything else to do with health I have to bear in mind it might be something else.

At the moment I am sitting with my tv on to my left, the sound is clearly coming from my left, but in my right hear I can hear low garled tv voice as well, as if that ear piece is in my ear-crazy I know.

The hearing process is something I suppose we can take for granted until something goes wrong.

martin57

Martin,

I work for Westone Laboratories, where we make custom and universal fit products for the ear: Hearing Aid earpieces, in-ear monitors, custom hearing protection, etc.

We have several audiologists on staff, some AuD, some MA. All of them would recommend that you see an audiologist about your hearing issue. Do not merely go to a hearing aid sales shop - see an audiologist.

Persons here will not be able to even remotely diagnose your situation. I can say that I am acutely aware of sudden/instantaneous changes to hearing function for which there appears to be no physical cause. I am hoping that is not the case for you.

With some Google searching, it seems that there is an audiology program at the local university in Manchester. Check in there to see if they have a clinic. Most legitimate university based audiology track programs have a very good clinic on-site.

http://www.psych-sci.manchester.ac.uk/research/groups/audiologyanddeafness/

-Scott

Martin57
Yes, these are all good suggestions to see an audiologist. Just be prepared for "sticker shock" as I was. I went to an Audiologist and tests showed considerable hearing loss. After coming up with every discount they could give me...the cost of hearing aids was still $6000.00. They suggested I could take out a loan but our budget is already stretched to the limit. I checked all over the internet for agencies that might help with the cost but our income is just barely over the limit required to get help...you know that "twilight zone" where no help is available so needless to say, I will not have hearing aids. Truthfully, I can see no justifcation for such awful price in ther first place. In the second place both hearing aids and dental care should be covered by health insurance and/or Medicare as they are equally as important to ones health as Diabetic Shoes for example. Medicare will pay $300. for a pair of shoes that shouldn't cost more than $50.00. Sorry for the rant but these situations make my blood boil.

I really hope the "wax cleaning" will solve your problem. At least it's a good start.

Val

Quote:

. . . cost of hearing aids was still $6000.00

But hey, you get free batteries!

My new DynaVox is due in to VAMC Muskogee tomorrow. The cost to the VA is over US$16,000.00. Anything labeled "Medical Instrument" automatically multiples the cost by 10X. If not for the VA there is no possible way that I could afford a $14K power wheelchair and a $16K speech device. Period.

Thanks for replies. Very much appreciated.

The good thing about the NHS in UK is they will pay for digital behind the ear aids regardless of a persons income.

If you want an in the ear aid then its the private route I believe.

Hope that the ear flush out will solve the problem, but in the meantime thanks again for support.

At least I know I am not alone with hearing problems.

martin

Quote:

Thanks for replies. Very much appreciated.

The good thing about the NHS in UK is they will pay for digital behind the ear aids regardless of a persons income.

If you want an in the ear aid then its the private route I believe.

Hope that the ear flush out will solve the problem, but in the meantime thanks again for support.

At least I know I am not alone with hearing problems.

martin

Martin - in almost all cases, the behind the ear (BTE) are better technology for most users than in the ear (ITE) or completely in canal (CIC) - due to the simple physics of the situation. With BTE, the microphone is located the farthest away from the speaker outlet, compared to other types. So, one can usually get higher gain before feedback - just like in a P.A. system, with the BTE type of hearing aid. Also, because there's more real-estate involved, the electronics don't have to be miniaturized quite as much as with the other types, particularly the CIC.

Let us know how it goes with the audiologist.

Quote:

I thought that I was invincible and didn't need hearing protection. Youth is vanity.

there's a song there for the person clever enough to develop the theme

How about the "Hi Deaf Blues"?

Yup - we take our hearing "for granted" - or maybe more "for GRANITE", what with what we do it and all.

Cheers All - I'll see you at the battery counter.

Ian

Well an update on this,

Having got checked for ear wax and none there I went to one of the private firms audiologists and he tells me that I have mild loss in left moderate loss ion right! bit of a shock and a certain amount of guilt as I was using a petrol hedge trimmer a few weeks before it happened without ear protection.

My mother had bad ears from about my age, so maybe that as well, I just don't know, but being exposed to loud noise certainly did no good.

Almost certain to have to get an aid. I know that Rockstar_not has mentioned the behind the ear(BTE) kind being good and they are free on the NHS here, but would like to know others opinions and how helpful it is in reagrads to making music and biab.

Thanks very much for your support and help,

Martin

Martin,

Something else to consider for music making purposes and hearing loss:

If you find that you are getting by without hearing aids in normal life (though significant other persons may disagree with you!) and have primary concern about music making at home...

You may want to consider some nice in-ear monitors for use with BIAB.

Because you can isolate from the room with 25+ dB of isolation with in-ear monitors, and because you are putting sound directly into your ear canals, you can perform an output stage equalization with either BIAB tools or external hardware or both, that is an inversion of your hearing loss (HL) curves for your individual ears.

You should have these curves available from your audiologist. How significant are the individual octave band losses on your individual ears? If the HL is less than 24 dB in an octave band, then a typical stereo graphic EQ (which has adjust-ability of +/- 12 dB in each octave band) can possibly be used in conjunction with in-ear monitors, to help you have a more 'balanced' hearing of your music you are making.

This is all outside of Hearing Aid use. Unfortunately, with the limited band-width of most hearing aids (they are all single-driver, speech frequency focused in some fashion), listening to music will likely be unsatisfactory.

In ear monitors will employ 1-5 and even more drivers (or receivers in hearing aid terminology) arranged in various types of physical and cross-over arrangements specifically to provide balanced output across the audible spectrum. Because of this, you can try out an inverted HL setup in a stereo graphic EQ.

PM me if you have more interest in this.

-Scott

Thanks very much Scott for your detailed reply. Its definitely something for me to think about.

I don't think the way my ears are hearing at the moment that I could continue without an aid. The way I hear is (to simplify my earlier post) fairly clearly in my left ear, but a muffled tone in my right, compunded by the fact that the sound in my ear seems to be located on my right side or slighlty behind me, even though the source is directly in front of me.

Sometimes I think I could hear more clearly if my right ear was totally deaf..:)

Listening to the tv through a wireless headphone on my right ear helps a lot.

Ah well going to see my GP tomorrow who will no doubt refer me to the ENT departement.

Martin

Hi,

I have had hearing problems for 20 years and used "in the ear" aids for quite a time. However for the last couple of aids, the mean time between failures was much too high in my opinion and I became annoyed at the constant hassle to get repairs done under the guarantees. The stock answers for the problems were "ear wax" and/or "condensation" which I disputed. Eventually, I had both aids replaced after I obtained a report on the condition of the aids from an independant source - the problems were down to the quality of the components.

At this time, I decided to hedge my bets and get a standby pair from the UK National Health Service which provides behind the ear models made by Siemens. At my age, I am not concerned with the cosmetic aspects of hiding my deafness. The process was quick and with none of the flannel you get from commercial suppliers. THe sound quality is excellent and the aids have required minor adjustments only since. I am so pleased with the result that the NHS pair are used daily, with the purchased ones as backup except they have now ceased working even when not used daily.

The NHS aids are free to UK citizens and even the consumables such as batteries are provided free of charge. Looking at costs, Commercial aids can cost between £700 and £2000 a pair in the UK. To replace an NHS aid, should you lose one is £80. Go Martin and get yourself sorted out.

The BTE aids can sometimes be more discreet visually than the CIC type of aids because the unit that sits behind the ear now is often very small (if you have hair that hangs behind your ear, it's hidden, and the connection into the canal is often a slim tube of perhaps 1-2mm in diameter or a wire that is just as small if the receiver is in the canal.

Again, the advantages of this type of technology is that the miniaturization does not rule over performance, like it does in CIC type of aids.

-Scott

Thanks very much Scott and Lyn for your advice, very much appreciate it. I have seen my GP today and got a referal to the local NHS hospital to be tested and fitted with an aid.

Guess it's not the end of the world having an hearing aid, life will be much better with it and I think Lyn thats sound advice of yours not to be bothered too much with the cosmetic aspect of it, so have told a number of people already that I need one.

A lot worse could happen in a persons life than loosing a bit of hearing.

Thanks again

Martin

It makes me so happy to see that some people get positive results.

I suspect that certain members are cringing at the NHS thing.

National
Health
Service

In Canada we get 500 bucks an ear every 2 or 3 years.

And in my case the Audiologist who works for the hospital tells the private company who sells them that:
1. They are needed.
2. What make/model to get, (after consulting with the patient).

So I suspect that in the US unless you have insurance, you are on your own.

And then do they send you to their company who they own shares in? (Sorry that just popped into my head.) Of course they don't, that would have to be unethical right?)